Author: Robin Linus 2020-01-17 04:17:56
Published on: 2020-01-17T04:17:56+00:00
Robin Linus has proposed a bitcoin-backed PoS sidechain protocol with no trusted third party. The protocol proposes an efficient solution to the double-spending problem using a bitcoin-backed proof-of-stake, where validators vote on sidechain blocks with one-time signatures, forming a record that cannot be changed without destroying their collateral. Checkpoints can be additionally secured with a bitcoin-backed proof-of-burn. Assuming a rational majority of validators, the sidechain provides safety and liveness. The protocol is a generic consensus mechanism allowing for arbitrary sidechain assets. Spawning multiple, independent instances scales horizontally. Joachim Strömbergson expressed concerns about the proposal. The first reason was that it introduces a new token for each sidechain and suggests atomic swaps to be used for the exchange of the mainchain token with the sidechain token. Such a model seems nonsensical because there seems to be excessive numbers of blockchain projects that can be used similarly just as the sidechain in this proposal. The second reason is that the security of the proposed system seems to be very fragile unless he has missed something. Robin Linus responded by explaining that it will be impossible to halt a healthy chain with a tiny investment because halting a chain costs at least as much as the sidechain rewards. The "invested time value per block" of all honest stakers converges against the block reward. For a decentralized consensus via resource consumption, it doesn't matter which limited resource you consume. The only relevant factor is that the value of the block reward is sufficient to motivate people to invest a lot of that resource.
Updated on: 2023-06-13T23:14:02.663926+00:00